Vietnam’s overreliance on imports from China in its supply chains may hinder its ambition to become a pivotal part of global semiconductor supply chains, according to Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who specialises in Southeast Asian politics and security issues, quoted in this article published by the SCMP.
The article also refers to the chronic shortage of skilled tech engineers in Vietnam, and there isn’t a clear roadmap to resolve this issue. Notably, there was a US$2 million commitment made during Biden’s visit to Hanoi earlier this week to provide training for Vietnamese workers. This however, was for training in ‘testing, assembly, and packaging’ as opposed to upstream design and engineering.
The article raises a number of key points with regard to semiconductor production in Vietnam, which fits with this analysis from the-shiv earlier in the week–Vietnam’s role in supply chains is generally downstream, low-skilled assembly roles.